Smartphone Vlogging Setups for Every Budget
Using a smartphone for a vlogging scenario is pretty common these days but given the great quality you can get from them, they can be used far more broadly.
For example I personally use a Sony MILC cam for most of the content I create for myself and others.
However in many cases I either need b-roll or at least footage shot from a different angle.
In that situation I almost always use my smartphone shooting in 4k and can integrate it seamlessly with the main footage.
This is made especially easy these days with programs like PowerDirector, Filmora and Resolve offering automated “shot matching” features that make it a point and click proposition.
The video below covers three smartphone vlogging or shooting setups for different budgets, ranging from $20 to $200 so there’s something in there for everyone.
5 Solo Filming Hacks Every Creator Needs (POV + BTS Rigs)
These are some different BTS (Behind the Scenes) rigs that can be used by solo creators to capture footage of their work process.
The rigs are designed to be easy to set up and use and can help creators capture high-quality footage of their work, even when they are working alone.
The rigs are: a neck mount, sunglasses with a built-in camera, a 360 camera on a boom arm, a magic arm with a MagSafe adapter, and a head or chest mount with a GoPro or Insta360 Go 3S camera.
It also covers why capturing BTS footage for social media and YouTube is valuable, as it can help creators connect with their audience and build trust.
How to Upload Videos on YouTube – Best Settings in 2025
The thing with YouTube is that ever since it was launched it has been going through a never ending evolution.
What that really boils down to is that even though last year you had a good handle on how to correctly upload, this years that information may be totally different!
The video below is a comprehensive guide on how to upload videos to YouTube currently, with a focus on optimizing settings for increased views.
It covers selecting the best video format, choosing the right privacy settings, and making content search-friendly.
The guys at Primal Video also go through some tips for making the process more efficient by pre-planning video titles, descriptions and playlists to streamline the upload process.
3 Color Tools You’ve Been Missing Out On – PowerDirector
This is a livestream from Maliek at PowerDirector University be warned, it’s over an hour but as usual is full of great content.
In this one Maliek focuses on three color tools in PowerDirector that video editors may not be using enough.
He covers LUTs, the Color Match tool and Split Toning.
The video shows detailed walkthroughs of each tool, demonstrating how to use them in PowerDirector 365 and discussing their potential benefits for color grading and correction.
The video also includes an added tip on the “Filter Color” effect, a useful tool for creating a “Sin City” or “Pleasantville” style look without having to go into any heroic effects application on your part.
Tell Stories Like a Pro – Improve Your Storytelling Skills
It doesn’t really matter what your videos are actually about, the bottom line is that humans need stories to stay engaged and if you don’t have one… they will click away.
On top of that humans are conditioned into certain elements being present for them to identify a story as a story!
The bare bones of what you need to cover and how to do that are in the video below from the guys at Movavi.
How to Export Video in Filmora 14 – New Version
In the video below Jacky demonstrates how to export videos in Filmora 14, the latest version.
Since the last update of Filmora to version 14 there are few different settings and locations for them in the interface.
Jacky also covers a few relevant points about the importance of some of these settings with recommendations for optimizing video quality for platforms like YouTube and TikTok.
Another point he covers which everyone should really be aware of is not using the direct uploading function that many video editing software programs offer these days,
Direct social media uploads may seem on the surface to be a kind of handy tool and in a perfect world that would actually be true!
Unfortunately these direct uploading modules (regardless of brand) rely on API’s issued by the platforms themselves and are not under the control of the software makers.
Those API’s are constantly being probed by hackers for backdoors to get into those platforms and as such are endlessly being updated and secured.
The result of that is that yesterday’s successful direct upload may not actually work today!
Mastering Advanced Draw Tools for Epic Gaming Intros
A little while back now Filmora revamped the drawing tool adding more features and the ability to exercise more control.
Since then there have been a few updates so that now it is a pretty powerful drawing module inside a video editor.
This video tutorial specifically shows how to create a gaming intro using advanced Draw Tools in Filmora but in doing so runs through a lot of those new features, how to use them and what they can do.
The video also shows how to use motion tracking to connect text to characters and add visual effects like drop shadows and masks.
3 Music Editing Mistakes that Kinda Ruin a Cut
The great “unseen” aspect of video production is audio and even though it is unseen, its effect can be quite profound.
The interesting thing about bad audio is that most often the audience will never actually spot what the problem is.
They just “know” something isn’t quite right but can’t quite put a finger on what it is.
The video below covers three common music editing mistakes that can ruin a cut: placing the edit on the wrong beat, cutting offbeat, and cutting between dissimilar sections of a cue.
Animation in Resolve Just Got WAY Easier! – DaVinci Resolve 20 Keyframes Panel
DaVinci Resolve 20 came out last week and there has been a flood of videos released covering the new or improved features.
Given the power and breadth of a lot of these features I will probably be posting new stuff for a few weeks!
In this video Casey Faris runs through the new keyframing panel that you can now access in the Edit Page which will really simplify animation workflows.
That panel allows users to adjust keyframe timing, easing, and values directly within the timeline, eliminating the need to switch to the Fusion page for basic animation tasks.
This feature is a significant improvement over previous versions of Resolve, where animation controls were not really limited but were complicated to access and work with.
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